Trent Alexander-Arnold looks set to again experiment with playing in midfield.
The former Liverpool right back has had a difficult start to life at Real Madrid and it looks set to only get harder.
Madrid have signed Denzel Dumfries in the summer transfer window, and with Jose Mourinho a coach who loves a reliable defence, Alexander-Arnold’s chances are looking limited.
However, some experts claim Mourinho is more than willing to try the defender in midfield where he’s played on occasion in the past.
Trent backed for new Madrid role under Mourinho
Real Madrid reporter Héctor González commented: “From what I’m seeing – and this is more of a hunch – but I think he’s putting Trent in a more prominent role than usual to orchestrate the play, and that Dumfries is going to be his starting right-back.
“I don’t know if he’d consider trying Trent as a playmaker as an alternative.”
He added on Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1 during training: “The system won’t change because Jude Bellingham is the team’s number 10, and Mourinho won’t switch to a 4-3-3 to move him back.”
Mourinho previously had huge success in converting players at Madrid, changing Sergio Ramos from an unreliable right back to one of the club’s greatest-ever centre backs.
He also brought Marcelo into a back four when he’d only been trusted on the wing, and similarly turned him into a football legend.
This was a very different Mourinho, though, and Alexander-Arnold is a whole other task.
Dumfries certain to be first choice right back
Another of the club’s prominent followers, AS editor Tomas Roncero, has predicted Mourinho’s first choice line-up with Trent not in it.
“Mourinho wants to strengthen the defence, and the Englishman isn’t exactly a reliable option behind him,” he said, naming Dumfries alongside Rudiger and Marc Cucurella.
On the other centre back, he continued: “I’m imagining that he’s [Konate] been given a warning.
“Because his first half against England in the third-place match was such a disaster that they must have told him: ‘If you come to Madrid like that, you won’t last long.’”
Roncero then named his midfield three of Jude Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde, and then finished with his attackers.
“Knowing Mourinho, I think that in slightly more complicated matches he’ll play Guler instead of Diomande.
“Mourinho has an easy excuse because the new Real Madrid winger is a very young lad, it’s not the same playing for Leipzig or Leganés as it is for Real Madrid.
“In the big matches, I see Guler instead of Diomande.”
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